“It was heavy, wasn’t it? Sorry.”

Yu Gang, flustered by Seolhwa’s frozen expression, waved his hands.

“I don’t actually want to find my parents or anything like that. They abandoned me. I just...”

Seolhwa shook her head.

“No. But unfortunately, I’m still looking for the sigil’s source too. If it symbolizes something, there has to be some information out there.”

She set the ring down and naturally looked up at him.

“Once we finish the Beggar’s Union matter, we might be able to learn something through them as well—”

Their eyes met head-on.

Because they’d leaned in to inspect the ring, the two of them had ended up very close.

Yu Gang’s gaze wavered as if it had lost its path.

His tension carried into Seolhwa; she averted her eyes in a hurry and turned her body away.

“If I learn anything, I’ll tell you.”

As she turned, she had to freeze mid-motion.

Yu Gang had seized her wrist.

“Why are you avoiding me?”

His low voice brushed her ear like a tickle.

The weight of his grip around her wrist made Seolhwa clench her fist without meaning to.

“I didn’t ask you to like me. I wasn’t demanding anything. I just wanted to tell you how I feel...”

“It’s not because of you.”

Seolhwa looked back at him.

He looked outwardly calm, but his face was clearly taut with nerves.

“It’s not because of you. I’m... confused.”

She had no idea what expression to wear.

She was used to keeping her feelings off her face, but now she couldn’t hide this unnameable emotion and dropped her gaze.

“When I was young, they force-fed me internal power. As a side effect I lost a lot—memories, senses. Feelings were one of them.”

“...What?”

Yu Gang couldn’t believe his ears.

It was the first time he’d heard anything about her childhood, the years she’d been away from the clan.

He’d imagined it wasn’t peaceful, but hearing it from her mouth was a shock all the same.

“It’s much better now, but I’m still dull. Even that night, when you said that to me, I...”

She had some sense of his heart, but honestly, she couldn’t know.

How had she felt hearing those words—good, bad? How was she supposed to react?

Her chest tickled and her heart seemed to beat a little harder, but she had no idea if that was how someone feels when they like someone.

So she’d gotten sad.

So she had no choice but to avoid him.

Because she herself didn’t know what she should say.

“So wait for me. Until I can understand this feeling. Honestly, I don’t know how long it’ll take. I can’t even be sure time will make me understand. But...”

Seolhwa had to stop.

His hand around her wrist was trembling so much she could feel it.

She lifted her eyes to him; her lips parted a little.

“...Why... are you crying...?”

Tears were sliding down from Yu Gang’s clear eyes.

Was he hurt because she’d asked him to wait?

Was it her saying she didn’t know?

The pitiful look he turned on her was full of sorrow, just like the boy from four years ago who realized Mount Hua was in danger and cried.

Whump—

Yu Gang pulled Seolhwa into his arms.

Held in that embrace full of wet breaths, Seolhwa blinked round eyes.

“I’m sorry.”

His cracked voice pressed into her ear.

“For doing only what I wanted.”

His quiet voice, for some reason, made her chest heave.

“I didn’t think about your position. I... never imagined you had that kind of hurt. I realized it too late... I’m sorry.”

How could he have known, when she hadn’t told him.

It was only natural he didn’t know.

Then why.

Why was this man apologizing for that.

“It must have been hard.”

And why did those words make her feel relieved.

“It must have hurt... a lot.”

He was the one crying.

She was the one who should be comforting him, but it felt like she was the one being comforted, so Seolhwa forced her voice out.

“I told you. I lost my senses—I don’t really know what pain feels like.”

Yu Gang let her go and looked at her with wet eyes.

“I can wait my whole life.”

“...”

“Even if you never figure it out, I’ll stay by your side.”

His clear eyes glittered in the moonlight.

Maybe because he’d been crying, they seemed to shine even more.

“You don’t have to try to answer. You can just ignore me. You just...”

The hand holding her wrist softened and closed gently around her hand.

“Do whatever you want.”

The quiet gaze with which he looked at her was the same as in her previous life.

An unshaken conviction and an unbending will.

A resolve to protect, no matter what.

Yu Gang was looking at her with the same heart as then.

The very gaze that had faced Mount Hua.

The very promise he had, in the end, kept.

****

The next morning.

Exactly at the appointed hour.

On the first floor of the inn, Golden Lotus Rain and Tang Hojin had come down first and were waiting for the two of them.

Before long, Yu Gang came down the stairs.

“If everyone’s here, we’ll depart immediately.”

Golden Lotus Rain glanced behind him.

“Lady Namgoong hasn’t come down yet.”

“Lady Namgoong received a letter from the Alliance Lord at dawn and left for Shanxi.”

“For Shanxi?”

So suddenly?

Golden Lotus Rain and Tang Hojin exchanged startled looks.

Their original destination was Hebei.

Shanxi wasn’t far, but it had nothing to do with their destination, did it?

Yu Gang recalled what had happened half a shichen earlier.

“I’m sorry, but I have to go to Shanxi.”

Seolhwa had suddenly come to his room and knocked, and said that.

“...Is something wrong?”

“Hwaoru is looking for me. Me, the Sado Union Lord.”

Yu Gang’s expression hardened.

“Isn’t that dangerous?”

“I don’t know yet. It’s the first time Hwaoru has approached first.”

Yu Gang was worried for her.

He had seen what Hwaoru did at Shaolin; he knew how dangerous they were.

“Do you have to go?”

“Just now I got information that a split force of the Beggar’s Union is in Shanxi. I’ll go meet them.”

“I’m worried about you.”

“...”

“If it’s dangerous, I wish you wouldn’t go.”

Just because they were calling didn’t mean she had to meet them.

Even Hwaoru couldn’t summon the Sado Union Lord as they pleased.

But Seolhwa lowered her gaze.

“Sorry.”

She knew it could be dangerous, but she had to know what they intended, what change was moving.

“I have to go.”

Yu Gang cupped her cheek and met her eyes.

He still looked like he wanted to stop her, but he nodded, reluctant.

“Be careful. Don’t get hurt.”

“...Mm. Please explain it well to Miss Geum and Young Master Tang.”

“If there’s news to send, I’ll dispatch Seolmae.”

Seolhwa nodded.

She left the inn straightaway.

“Remember this. Trust no one.”

That was the last caution Seolhwa left behind.

“Since she left for a reason related to this matter, we’ll carry out our original plan as assigned.”

One person short didn’t change anything.

Golden Lotus Rain and Tang Hojin still looked bewildered, but they accepted the situation quickly.

“Let’s depart.”

With Seolhwa absent, the three headed for Hebei that morning.

****

Tat— tadat—

The gorge linking Henan to Shanxi.

Racing along the rough canyon beside the Yellow River were ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ two riders: Seolhwa and her confidante, Ryeong.

Summoned by letter for the investigation into the Assassins’ Hall affair, Ryeong had brought unexpected news.

Hwaoru wished to meet the Shadowless Demon God.

“The Hao Sect Lord and the Chief Strategist have heard and are gathering at the Shanxi branch. They should have arrived by now.”

“What about Black Cloud Hall?”

“I summoned them.”

Seolhwa nodded low.

Ryeong, who had guarded her side for a long time, understood Seolhwa’s heart better than anyone.

It couldn’t be easy to grow up as a Namgoong Clan warrior and live as Chief of the Guardian Patrols for an Unorthodox power, yet she had never voiced a single complaint.

Because Ryeong filled the empty seat, Seolhwa could move between the Sado Union and the Namgoong Clan, and Seolhwa was grateful for that. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

Tat— tadat—

As Seolhwa and Ryeong ran the gorge, they turned in unison.

Shanxi was drawing near.

****

The Sado Union branch in Gohyeon, at the southern edge of Shanxi Province.

The central branch was in Taiyuan, the provincial capital, but Seolhwa had deliberately chosen Gohyeon as the meeting place.

She’d picked a relatively quiet location in case a fight broke out.

The evening after Seolhwa and the Sado Union leadership gathered in Gohyeon—

At last, a coach all in black and horses with saddles engraved with Hwaoru’s sigil arrived.

The one to greet them was Ryeong, Chief of the Guardian Patrols for the Sado Union.

Her gaze, gauging the martial skill of those alighting from the coach, was razor-sharp.

‘So that woman is the head of this party.’

Ryeong’s look fixed on the woman whose face was hidden behind a black veil under a bamboo hat.

Leisurely movements and gentle poise.

She wore a robe so close to black it was almost purple, and, peculiarly, held an abacus as long as her forearm.

Sensing Ryeong’s gaze, the woman turned to her.

Beneath the veil, lips tinted a deep violet curved in a wicked arc.

“Where might the Sado Union Lord be?”